Sunday, November 20, 2011

Cranberry Health Benefits and Side Effects

Cranberry is a evergreen dwarf shrubs, genus Vaccinium, belonging to the family Ericaceae, native to Northern America and Southern Asia. Because of health benefits, it has been cultivated in some parts of the world for

commercial profits and used in traditional and herbal medicine to treat wounds,urinary disorders, diarrhea, diabetes, stomach ailments, and liver problems.

Health Benefits1. Infectious diseaseIn the investigation of cranberry Proanthocyanin constituents and it effects in infectious diseases found that mouthwash supplemented isolated cranberry derivative reduced significantly the caryogenic mutans streptococci, according to the study of "Cranberry components for the therapy of infectious disease" by Shmuely H, Ofek I, Weiss EI, Rones Z, Houri-Haddad Y.(1)

2. Urinary tract infectionIn the observation of antiadherence properties in cranberry and it effects in preventing infection, found that it prevents fimbriated Escherichia coli from adhering to uroepithelial cells in the urinarytract, according "Cranberryjuice and urinary tract infection" by Raz R, Chazan B, Dan M.(2)

3. Antibiotics In the evaluation of Cranberryjuice consumption taking along with low-dose oral antibiotics for prophylaxis for recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) found that concurrent use of cranberryjuice has no significant effect on the extent of oral absorption or the renal clearance of amoxicillin and cefaclor, but delays in the absorption of amoxicillin and cefaclor were observed, according to the study of"Effects of cranberryjuice on pharmacokinetics of beta-lactam antibiotics following oral administration" byLi M, Andrew MA, Wang J, Salinger DH, Vicini P, Grady RW, Phillips B, Shen DD, Anderson GD.(3)

4. Antibacterial effectsIn the examination of daily cranberryjuice cocktail to those of placebo during pregnancy and it effects on asymptomatic bacteriuria and symptomatic urinary tract infections found that 27 urinary tract infections in 18 subjects in this cohort, with 6 in 4 group A subjects, 10 in 7 group B subjects and 11 in 7 group C subjects (p = 0.71). There was a 57% and 41% reduction in the frequency of asymptomatic bacteriuria and all urinary tract infections, respectively, according to the study "Daily cranberryjuice for the prevention of asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnancy: a randomized, controlled pilot study" by Wing DA, Rumney PJ, Preslicka CW, Chung JH.(4)

5. Pathogenic microorganismsIn the determination of cranberryjuice and its inhibitory effects of pathogenic microorganisms found that S. aureus was more susceptible to cranberryjuice inhibition than the other microorganisms. L. monocytogenes was the most resistant to the inhibitory action of cranberryjuice, showing a significant difference from the inhibition of P. aeruginosa, uropathogenic E. coli, Salmonella spp., and S. aureus, according to the study of "In vitro inhibitory effect of cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpom Ait.) juice on pathogenic microorganisms" by Magariños HL, Sahr C, Selaive SD, Costa ME, Figuerola FE, Pizarro OA(5)

6. Antioxidant effectsIn the determination of Cranberry products and especially cranberryjuice (CJ) and its phenolic antioxidants found that the control High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) caused a slight decrease in plasma antioxidant capacity at all time points and thus an oxidative stress in spite of the presence of ascorbate. CJ produced an increase in plasma antioxidant capacity that was significantly greater than control HFCS at all time points, according to the study of "Cranberries and cranberry products: powerful in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo sources of antioxidants" by Vinson JA, Bose P, Proch J, Al Kharrat H, Samman N.(6)

7. Drug interactionIn the evaluation of cranbeery juice and its interaction on warfarin found that large volumes of cranberryjuice destabilize warfarin therapy. Small amounts of juice are not expected to cause such an interaction, according to the study of "Interaction between warfarin and cranberryjuice" by Aston JL, Lodolce AE, Shapiro NL.(7)

8. PH levelsIn the research of cranberryjuice and it effect on urinary pH, found that there were significant (.01 level) differences in mean urinary pH between each control group and its corresponding experimental group, according to the study of "Effect of cranberryjuice on urinary pH" by

Kinney AB, Blount M.(8)

9. Lipoprotein oxidationIn the investigation of Cranberryjuice consumptionand it effects on cholesterol found that when LDL oxidation took place in the presence of diluted cranberry extracts, the formation of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and LDL electrophoretic mobility were reduced. LDL electrophoretic migration was also reduced when the cranberry extract had a pH of 7.00 prior to dilution. according to the study of "Cranberry extract inhibits low density lipoprotein oxidation" byWilson T, Porcari JP, Harbin D.(9)

10. Skin conditionsIn research of Cranberry juice and it effects on skin condition of urostomy patients found that while drinking cranberry juice did not appear to acidify the urine as expected, improvements were still seen in the skin conditions of the study participants, suggesting that drinking cranberry juice does positively impact the incidence of skin complications for these patients, according to the study of "Cranberry juice and its impact on peri-stomal skin conditions for urostomy patients" by Tsukada K, Tokunaga K, Iwama T, Mishima Y, Tazawa K, Fujimaki M.(10)

11. Etc.

Side effects1. Cranberry may interact with other medicine, although there are conflicted reports in studies.2. It may cause allergic effects to certain people3. People with high blood sugar should avoid to take cranberry juice without permission of their doctors4. Cranberry contains s measurable amount of axalates, if you have kidney diseases.5. Overdoses may cause gastrointestinal distress and diarrhea.6. Etc.